Method and electronic device for recognizing touch

ABSTRACT

An electronic device includes a processor, a touch sensor, and a touch controller including a register. The processor writes, into the register, data associated with a partial area of the touch sensor specified to sense an effective touch. When the effective touch is sensed in the partial area of the touch sensor, the touch controller writes data associated with the effective touch into the register, and the processor reads the data associated with the effective touch from the register when the data associated with the effective touch is written in the register.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) of a Koreanpatent application filed on Aug. 1, 2016 in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office and assigned Serial number 10-2016-0098167 and a Koreanpatent application filed on Jan. 19, 2017 in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office and assigned Serial number 10-2017-0009445, the entiredisclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to a method for recognizing atouch input and an electronic device performing the same.

BACKGROUND

With the development of mobile communication technologies, the latestelectronic devices may freely connect to wireless/wired networks and areeasily portable. For example, portable electronic devices such assmartphones, tablet personal computers (PC), and the like are able tosupport various functions, such as connecting to the Internet andplaying back multimedia content, placing phone calls, send/receivemessages, etc.

The display of the portable electronic device may be implemented with atouchscreen display that includes a touch sensor. The touchscreendisplay may perform the role of an input device that receives usermanipulation or input, and also perform the role of an output devicethat provides visual displays to the user.

SUMMARY

The electronic device may also output information, such as time, date,and/or notifications, in the touchscreen display even when theelectronic device is in an inactive state (e.g., in a sleep state). Inthe scenario, the electronic device implements a so-called always-ondisplay (AOD) and outputs information even in the inactive state whenpower consumption is reduced.

The electronic device may output, for example, graphic user interface(GUI) objects such as icons of applications, widgets, and notificationevents, in the AOD. But because the electronic device is inactive, theuser may not be allowed to directly select the GUI object displayed inthe AOD. It is because while inactive, the touch sensor of the touchscreen may be inoperative. In this case, the user has to first place theelectronic device back in the active state (e.g. by pressing the homebutton of the device). Then, the user may select one of the GUI objectspresented on the touchscreen display while the electronic device was inthe active state.

Aspects of the present disclosure are to address at least theabove-mentioned problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at leastthe advantages described below. Accordingly, an aspect of the presentdisclosure is to provide a method for recognizing an effective touch toa GUI object through a specific area on a touchscreen display when anelectronic device is in an inactive state (e.g., a sleep state) and theelectronic device performing the same.

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, an electronicdevice may include a processor, a touch sensor, and a touch controllerincluding a register. The processor may write, into the register, dataassociated with a partial area of the touch sensor specified to sense aneffective touch. When the effective touch is sensed in the partial areaof the touch sensor, the touch controller may write data associated withthe effective touch into the register. And when the data associated withthe effective touch is written into the register, the processor may readthe data associated with the effective touch from the register.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a touchrecognition method may include writing, into a register included in atouch controller, data associated with a partial area of a touch sensorspecified to sense an effective touch, when the effective touch issensed in the partial area of the touch sensor, writing, by the touchcontroller, data associated with the effective touch into the register,and when the data associated with the effective touch is written intothe register, reading the data associated with the effective touch fromthe register.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, anelectronic may include a housing that includes a first surface and asecond surface opposite the first surface, a display that is exposedthrough the first surface and is interposed between the first surfaceand the second surface, a touch panel that is interposed between thedisplay and the first surface or is coupled to the display, a displaydriver integrated circuit (DDI) that is electrically connected to thedisplay and including a first memory, a touch controller integratedcircuit (IC) electrically connected to the touch panel and includes asecond memory, a processor that is electrically connected to the DDI andthe touch controller IC, a nonvolatile memory that is electricallyconnected to the processor. The nonvolatile memory may storeinstructions that, when executed, cause the processor to store, in thefirst memory, first data associated with a graphic user interface (GUI)to be displayed in a partial area of the display when the processor isin an inactive or sleep state, to store second data associated with thepartial area of the display in the second memory, and to enter theinactive or sleep state after storing the first data and the second datain the first memory and the second memory, respectively.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the disclosure willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings,discloses various embodiments of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certainembodiments of the present disclosure will be more apparent from thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an electronic device in a network environmentaccording to one embodiment;

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of the electronic device according toone embodiment;

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a program module according to oneembodiment;

FIG. 4 illustrates the electronic device according to one embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 5A illustrates a block diagram of the electronic device accordingto one embodiment;

FIG. 5B illustrates a touch sensor according to one embodiment;

FIG. 6A is a block diagram of a touch sensor according to oneembodiment;

FIG. 6B illustrates touch recognition by a touch sensor according to oneembodiment;

FIG. 6C illustrates movement of a touch recognition area according toone embodiment;

FIG. 7A illustrates an operation of a touch controller in an inactivestate (or sleep state), according to one embodiment;

FIG. 7B illustrates a register of a touch controller according to oneembodiment;

FIG. 8A illustrates recognition of an effective double touch accordingto one embodiment;

FIG. 8B illustrates recognition of the effective double touch accordingto another embodiment;

FIG. 8C illustrates recognition of the effective double touch accordingto yet another embodiment;

FIG. 9A is a flowchart illustrating a touch recognition method accordingto one embodiment;

FIG. 9B is a flowchart illustrating the touch recognition methodaccording to another embodiment; and

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating the touch recognition methodaccording to another embodiment.

Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbersare used to depict the same or similar elements, features, andstructures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, various embodiments of present disclosure will be describedwith reference to accompanying drawings. Accordingly, those skilled inthe art will recognize that modifications, equivalents, and/oralternatives of the various embodiments described herein can bevariously made without departing from the scope and spirit of presentdisclosure.

In this disclosure, the expressions “have,” “may have,” “include,” and“comprise,” “may include,” and “may comprise” indicate existence ofcorresponding features (e.g., elements such as numeric values,functions, operations, or components) but do not exclude presence ofadditional features.

In this disclosure, the expressions “A or B,” “at least one of A or/andB,” or “one or more of A or/and B,” and the like may include any and allcombinations of one or more of the associated listed items. For example,the term “A or B,” “at least one of A and B,” or “at least one of A orB” may refer to any or all of the cases (1) where at least one A isincluded, the case (2) where at least one B is included, or the case (3)where both of at least one A and at least one B are included.

The terms, such as “first,” “second,” and the like used in thisdisclosure may be used to refer to various elements regardless of theorder and/or the priority and to distinguish the relevant elements fromother elements, but do not limit the elements. For example, “a firstuser device” and “a second user device” indicate different user devicesregardless of the order or the priority. For example, without departingthe scope of this disclosure, a first element may be referred to as asecond element, and similarly, a second element may be referred to as afirst element.

It will be understood that when an element (e.g., a first element) isreferred to as being “(operatively or communicatively) coupled with/to”or “connected to” another element (e.g., a second element), it may bedirectly coupled with/to or connected to the other element or anintervening element (e.g., a third element) may be present. In contrast,when an element (e.g., a first element) is referred to as being“directly coupled with/to” or “directly connected to” another element(e.g., a second element), it should be understood that there are nointervening element (e.g., a third element).

According to the situation, the expression “configured to” used in thisdisclosure may be used as, for example, the expression “suitable for,”“having the capacity to,” “designed to,” “adapted to,” “made to,” or“capable of” The term “configured to” may not mean only “specificallydesigned to” in hardware. Instead, the expression “a device configuredto” may mean that the device is “capable of” operating together withanother device or other components. For example, a “processor configuredto (or set to) perform A, B, and C” may mean a dedicated processor(e.g., an embedded processor) for performing a corresponding operationor a generic-purpose processor (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU) oran application processor) which performs corresponding operations byexecuting one or more software programs which are stored in a memorydevice.

Terms used in this disclosure are used to describe specified embodimentsand are not intended to limit the scope of another embodiment. The termsof a singular form may include plural forms unless otherwise specified.All the terms used herein, which include technical or scientific terms,may have the same meaning that is generally understood by those skilledin the art. It will be further understood that terms, which are definedin a dictionary and commonly used, should also be interpreted as beingcustomary in the relevant art unless expressly so defined in thedisclosure. In some cases, even if certain terms are defined in thisdisclosure, they may not be interpreted to exclude embodiments of thisdisclosure.

An electronic device according to various embodiments of this disclosuremay include at least one of smartphones, tablet personal computers(PCs), mobile phones, video telephones, electronic book readers, desktopPCs, laptop PCs, netbook computers, workstations, servers, personaldigital assistants (PDAs), portable multimedia players (PMPs), MotionPicture Experts Group (MPEG-1 or MPEG-2) Audio Layer 3 (MP3) players,mobile medical devices, cameras, or wearable devices. According tovarious embodiments, the wearable device may be an accessory (e.g.,watches, rings, bracelets, anklets, necklaces, glasses, contact lens, orhead-mounted-devices (HMDs), a fabric or garment-integrated device(e.g., an electronic apparel), a body-attached device (e.g., a skin pador tattoos), or a bio-implantable device (e.g., an implantable circuit).

According to one or more embodiments, the electronic device may be ahome appliance. The home appliances may include at least one of, forexample, televisions (TVs), digital versatile disc (DVD) players,audios, refrigerators, air conditioners, cleaners, ovens, microwaveovens, washing machines, air cleaners, set-top boxes, home automationcontrol panels, security control panels, TV boxes (e.g., SamsungHomeSync™, Apple TV™, and Google TV™), game consoles (e.g., Xbox™ andPlayStation™), electronic dictionaries, electronic keys, camcorders,electronic picture frames, and the like.

According to other embodiments, an electronic device may be variousmedical devices (e.g., various portable medical measurement devices(e.g., a blood glucose monitoring device, a heartbeat measuring device,a blood pressure measuring device, a body temperature measuring device,and the like), a magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), a magneticresonance imaging (MRI) device, a computed tomography (CT), scanners,and ultrasonic devices), navigation devices, Global Navigation SatelliteSystem (GNSS), event data recorders (EDRs), flight data recorders(FDRs), vehicle infotainment devices, electronic equipment for vessels(e.g., navigation systems and gyrocompasses), avionics, securitydevices, head units for vehicles, industrial or home robots, automaticteller's machines (ATMs), points of sales (POSs) of stores, or internetof things (e.g., light bulbs, various sensors, electric or gas meters,sprinkler devices, fire alarms, thermostats, street lamps, toasters,exercise equipment, hot water tanks, heaters, boilers, and the like).

According to yet other embodiments, the electronic device may includeparts of furniture or buildings/structures, electronic boards,electronic signature receiving devices, projectors, or various measuringinstruments (e.g., water meters, electricity meters, gas meters, or wavemeters, and the like). According to one or more embodiments, theelectronic device may be one of the above-described devices or acombination thereof. An electronic device according to an embodiment maybe a flexible electronic device. Furthermore, an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment of this disclosure may not be limited to theabove-described electronic devices and may include other electronicdevices and/or new electronic devices developed in the art.

Hereinafter, electronic devices according to the various disclosedembodiments will be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings. In this disclosure, the term “user” may refer to a person whouses an electronic device or may refer to a device (e.g., an artificialintelligence electronic device) that uses the electronic device.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an electronic device in a networkenvironment, according to one embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 1, according to one embodiment, an electronic device101, 102, or 104 or a server 106 may be connected with each other over anetwork 162 or local wireless communication 164. The electronic device101 may include a bus 110, a processor 120, a memory 130, aninput/output interface 150, a display 160, and a communication interface170. According to an embodiment, the electronic device 101 may notinclude at least one of the above-described elements or may furtherinclude other element(s).

For example, the bus 110 may interconnect the above-described elements110 to 170 and may include a circuit for conveying communications (e.g.,a control message and/or data) among the above-described elements.

The processor 120 may be a central processing unit (CPU), an applicationprocessor (AP), or a communication processor (CP). For example, theprocessor 120 may perform arithmetic operations or data processingassociated with control and/or communication of at least one otherelement(s) of the electronic device 101.

The memory 130 may be a volatile and/or nonvolatile memory. For example,the memory 130 may store instructions or data associated with at leastone other element(s) of the electronic device 101. According to anembodiment, the memory 130 may store software and/or a program 140. Theprogram 140 may include, for example, kernel 141, middleware 143,application programming interface (API) 145, and/or application program(or “application”) 147. At least a part of the kernel 141, themiddleware 143, or the API 145 may be referred to as an “operatingsystem (OS)”.

For example, the kernel 141 may control or manage system resources(e.g., the bus 110, the processor 120, the memory 130, and the like)that are used to execute operations or functions of other programs(e.g., the middleware 143, the API 145, and the application program147). Furthermore, the kernel 141 may provide an interface that allowsthe middleware 143, the API 145, or the application program 147 toaccess discrete elements of the electronic device 101 so as to controlor manage system resources.

The middleware 143 may perform, for example, a mediation role such thatthe API 145 or the application program 147 communicates with the kernel141 to exchange data.

Furthermore, the middleware 143 may process one or more task requestsreceived from the application program 147 according to a priority. Forexample, the middleware 143 may assign the priority, which makes itpossible to use system resources (e.g., the bus 110, the processor 120,the memory 130, or the like) of the electronic device 101, to at leastone of the application programs 147. For example, the middleware 143 mayprocess the one or more task requests according to the priority, whichmakes it possible to perform scheduling or load balancing of the one ormore task requests.

The API 145 may be, for example, an interface through which theapplication program 147 controls a function provided by the kernel 141or the middleware 143, and may include, for example, at least oneinterface or function (e.g., an instruction) for a file control, awindow control, image processing, a character control, or the like.

The input/output interface 150 may be an interface which transmits aninstruction or data input from a user or another external device, toother element(s) of the electronic device 101. Furthermore, theinput/output interface 150 may output instructions or data, receivedfrom other element(s) of the electronic device 101, to the user oranother external device.

The display 160 may be a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light-emittingdiode (LED) display, an organic LED (OLED) display, amicroelectromechanical systems (MEMS) display, or an electronic paperdisplay, etc. The display 160 may display, for example, various content(e.g., a text, an image, a video, an icon, a symbol, and the like) tothe user. The display 160 may include a touch screen and may receive,for example, touch, gesture, proximity, or hovering inputs using anelectronic pen or a part of the user's body.

The communication interface 170 may establish communication between theelectronic device 101 and an external device (e.g., the first externalelectronic device 102, the second external electronic device 104, or theserver 106). For example, the communication interface 170 may beconnected to the network 162 over wireless communication or wiredcommunication to communicate with the external device (e.g., the secondexternal electronic device 104 or the server 106).

The wireless communication may include cellular communication employingat least one of, for example, long-term evolution (LTE), LTE Advanced(LTE-A), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA),Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Wireless Broadband(WiBro), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), or the like, ascellular communication protocol. According to an embodiment, thewireless communication may include, for example, at least one ofwireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), Bluetooth, Bluetooth low energy (BLE),Zigbee, near field communication (NFC), magnetic stripe transmission(MST), radio frequency (RF), a body area network (BAN), and a globalnavigation satellite system (GNSS).

The MST may generate a pulse in response to transmission data using anelectromagnetic signal, and the pulse may generate a magnetic fieldsignal. The electronic device 101 may transfer the magnetic field signalto point of sale (POS), and the POS may detect the magnetic field signalusing a MST reader. The POS may recover the data by converting thedetected magnetic field signal to an electrical signal.

The GNSS may be, for example, a global positioning system (GPS), aglobal navigation satellite system (Glonass), a Beidou navigationsatellite system (Beidou), or an European global satellite-basednavigation system (Galileo). The GNSS may be selected based on theavailable region, the selected bandwidth, or the like. Hereinafter, inthis disclosure, “GPS” and “GNSS” may be interchangeably used. The wiredcommunication may employ, for example, universal serial bus (USB), highdefinition multimedia interface (HDMI), recommended standard-232(RS-232), plain old telephone service (POTS), or the like. The network162 may include a telecommunications network such as a computer network(e.g., LAN or WAN), the Internet, or a telephone network.

Each of the first and second external electronic devices 102 and 104 maybe different from or the same as that of the electronic device 101.According to an embodiment, the server 106 may include a group of one ormore servers. According to one embodiment, all or a portion ofoperations performed in the electronic device 101 may be executed byanother electronic device (e.g., the electronic devices 102 and 104 orthe server 106). According to an embodiment, in the case where theelectronic device 101 executes a function or service automatically or inresponse to a request, the electronic device 101 may not perform thefunction or the service internally, but, alternatively or additionally,it may request at least a portion of the function or service beperformed by another device (e.g., the electronic device 102 or 104 orthe server 106). The other electronic device (e.g., the electronicdevice 102 or 104 or the server 106) may execute the requested functionand may transmit the execution result to the electronic device 101. Theelectronic device 101 may provide the requested function or serviceusing the received result or may additionally process the receivedresult to provide the requested function or service. To this end, forexample, cloud computing, distributed computing, or client-servercomputing may be used.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an electronic device, according toone embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 2, an electronic device 201 may include, for example,an entire part or a part of the electronic device 101 illustrated inFIG. 1. The electronic device 201 may include one or more processors(e.g., an application processor; AP) 210, a communication module 220, asubscriber identification module 229, a memory 230, a sensor module 240,an input device 250, a display 260, an interface 270, an audio module280, a camera module 291, a power management module 295, a battery 296,an indicator 297, and a motor 298.

The processor 210 may operate, for example, an operating system (OS) oran application to control a plurality of hardware or software elementsconnected to the processor 210 and may process and compute a variety ofdata. For example, the processor 210 may be implemented with a System onChip (SoC). According to an embodiment, the processor 210 may furtherinclude a graphic processing unit (GPU) and/or an image signalprocessor. The processor 210 may include at least a part (e.g., acellular module 221) of elements illustrated in FIG. 2. The processor210 may load an instruction or data, which is received from at least oneof other elements (e.g., a nonvolatile memory), into a volatile memoryand process the loaded instruction or data. The processor 210 may storea variety of data in the nonvolatile memory. The processor 210 mayinclude a microprocessor or any suitable type of processing circuitry,such as one or more general-purpose processors (e.g., ARM-basedprocessors), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a Programmable LogicDevice (PLD), an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), aField-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), a Graphical Processing Unit (GPU),a video card controller, etc. In addition, it would be recognized thatwhen a general purpose computer accesses code for implementing theprocessing shown herein, the execution of the code transforms thegeneral purpose computer into a special purpose computer for executingthe processing shown herein. Certain of the functions and steps providedin the Figures may be implemented in hardware, software or a combinationof both and may be performed in whole or in part within the programmedinstructions of a computer. No claim element herein is to be construedunder the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, unless theelement is expressly recited using the phrase “means for”. In addition,an artisan understands and appreciates that a “processor” or“microprocessor” may be hardware in the claimed disclosure. Under thebroadest reasonable interpretation, the appended claims are statutorysubject matter in compliance with 35 U.S.C. § 101.

The communication module 220 may be configured the same as or similar tothe communication interface 170 of FIG. 1. The communication module 220may include a cellular module 221, a Wi-Fi module 222, a Bluetooth (BT)module 223, a GNSS module 224 (e.g., a GPS module, a Glonass module, aBeidou module, or a Galileo module), a near field communication (NFC)module 225, a MST module 226, and a radio frequency (RF) module 227.

The cellular module 221 may provide, for example, voice communication,video communication, Internet service, or the like over a communicationnetwork. According to an embodiment, the cellular module 221 may performdiscrimination and authentication of the electronic device 201 withinthe communication network by using the subscriber identification module(e.g., a SIM card) 229. According to an embodiment, the cellular module221 may perform at least a portion of functions that the processor 210provides. According to an embodiment, the cellular module 221 mayinclude a communication processor (CP).

Each of the Wi-Fi module 222, the BT module 223, the GNSS module 224,the NFC module 225, or the MST module 226 may include a processor forprocessing data exchanged through the corresponding module, for example.According to an embodiment, at least some (e.g., two or more) of thecellular module 221, the Wi-Fi module 222, the BT module 223, the GNSSmodule 224, the NFC module 225, or the MST module 226 may be includedwithin one Integrated Circuit (IC) or an IC package.

For example, the RF module 227 may transmit and receive communicationsignals (e.g., RF signals). For example, the RF module 227 may include atransceiver, a power amplifier module (PAM), a frequency filter, a lownoise amplifier (LNA), an antenna, or the like. According to anotherembodiment, at least one of the cellular module 221, the Wi-Fi module222, the BT module 223, the GNSS module 224, the NFC module 225, or theMST module 226 may transmit and receive RF signals through a separate RFmodule.

The subscriber identification module 229 may be for example, a cardand/or an embedded SIM that includes the subscriber identificationmodule and may include unique identify information (e.g., integratedcircuit card identifier (ICCID)) or subscriber information (e.g.,international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI)).

The memory 230 (e.g., the memory 130) may include an internal memory 232or an external memory 234. For example, the internal memory 232 may be avolatile memory (e.g., a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a staticRAM (SRAM), a synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), or the like), a nonvolatilememory (e.g., a one-time programmable read only memory (OTPROM), aprogrammable ROM (PROM), an erasable and programmable ROM (EPROM), anelectrically erasable and programmable ROM (EEPROM), a mask ROM, a flashROM, a flash memory (e.g., a NAND flash memory or a NOR flash memory),or the like), a hard drive, or a solid state drive (SSD).

The external memory 234 may further be a flash drive such as compactflash (CF), secure digital (SD), micro secure digital (Micro-SD), minisecure digital (Mini-SD), extreme digital (xD), a multimedia card (MMC),a memory stick, or the like. The external memory 234 may be operativelyand/or physically connected to the electronic device 201 through variousinterfaces.

A security module 236 may be a module that includes a storage space forwhich the security level is higher than that of the memory 230 and maybe a circuit that guarantees safe data storage in a protected executionenvironment. The security module 236 may be implemented with a separatecircuit and may include a separate processor. For example, the securitymodule 236 may be in a smart chip or a secure digital (SD) card, whichis removable, or may include an embedded secure element (eSE) embeddedin a fixed chip of the electronic device 201. Furthermore, the securitymodule 236 may operate based on an operating system (OS) that isdifferent from the OS of the electronic device 201. For example, thesecurity module 236 may operate based on java card open platform (JCOP)OS.

The sensor module 240 may measure, for example, a physical quantity ormay detect an operation state of the electronic device 201. The sensormodule 240 may convert the measured or detected information to anelectric signal. For example, the sensor module 240 may include at leastone of a gesture sensor 240A, a gyro sensor 240B, a barometric pressuresensor 240C, a magnetic sensor 240D, an acceleration sensor 240E, a gripsensor 240F, the proximity sensor 240G, a color sensor 240H (e.g., red,green, blue (RGB) sensor), a biometric sensor 240I, atemperature/humidity sensor 240J, an illuminance sensor 240K, or an UVsensor 240M. Although not illustrated, the sensor module 240 may furtherinclude, for example, an E-nose sensor, an electromyography (EMG)sensor, an electroencephalogram (EEG) sensor, an electrocardiogram (ECG)sensor, an infrared (IR) sensor, an iris sensor, and/or a fingerprintsensor. The sensor module 240 may further include a control circuit forcontrolling at least one or more sensors included therein. According toan embodiment, the electronic device 201 may further include a processorthat is a part of the processor 210 or independent of the processor 210and is configured to control the sensor module 240. The processor maycontrol the sensor module 240 while the processor 210 remains at a sleepstate.

The input device 250 may be, for example, a touch panel 252, a (digital)pen sensor 254, a key 256, or an ultrasonic input unit 258. For example,the touch panel 252 may use capacitive, resistive, infrared and/orultrasonic detecting methods. Also, the touch panel 252 may furtherinclude a control circuit. The touch panel 252 may further include atactile layer to provide tactile feedback to the user.

The (digital) pen sensor 254 may be, for example, a part of a touchpanel or may include an additional sheet for recognition. The key 256may include, for example, a physical button, an optical key, or akeypad. The ultrasonic input device 258 may detect (or sense) anultrasonic signal, which is generated from an input device, through amicrophone (e.g., a microphone 288) and may check data corresponding tothe detected ultrasonic signal.

The display 260 (e.g., the display 160) may be the panel 262, thehologram device 264, or the projector 266. The panel 262 may be the sameas or similar to the display 160 illustrated in FIG. 1. The panel 262may be implemented, for example, to be flexible, transparent orwearable. The panel 262 and the touch panel 252 may be integrated into asingle module. The hologram device 264 may display a stereoscopic imageinto space using light interference. The projector 266 may project lightonto a screen so as to display an image. For example, the screen may bearranged to be within or outside the electronic device 201. According toan embodiment, the panel 262 may include a pressure sensor (or forcesensor) that measures the intensity of touch pressure by the user. Thepressure sensor may be implemented integrally with the touch panel 252,or may be implemented as at least one sensor separately from the touchpanel 252. According to an embodiment, the display 260 may furtherinclude a control circuit for controlling the panel 262, the hologramdevice 264, or the projector 266.

The interface 270 may be, for example, the high-definition multimediainterface (HDMI) 272, the universal serial bus (USB) 274, the opticalinterface 276, or the D-subminiature (D-sub) 278. The interface 270 maybe included, for example, in the communication interface 170 illustratedin FIG. 1. Additionally, the interface 270 may further include, forexample, a mobile high definition link (MHL) interface, a SDcard/multi-media card (MMC) interface, or an infrared data association(IrDA) standard interface.

The audio module 280 may convert sounds to electrical signals or viceversa. At least a part of the audio module 280 may be included, forexample, in the input/output interface 150 illustrated in FIG. 1. Theaudio module 280 may process, for example, sound information that isinput or output through the speaker 282, the receiver 284, the earphone286, or the microphone 288.

For example, the camera module 291 may shoot a still image or a video.According to an embodiment, the camera module 291 may include imagesensors (e.g., a front sensor or a rear sensor), lenses, one or moreimage signal processors (ISP), and/or a flash (e.g., an LED or a xenonlamp).

The power management module 295 may manage, for example, the power ofthe electronic device 201. According to an embodiment, a powermanagement integrated circuit (PMIC), a charger IC, or a battery or fuelgauge may be included in the power management module 295. The PMIC mayemploy wired or wireless charging methods. The wireless charging methodmay employ, for example, magnetic resonance charging, magnetic inductioncharging or electromagnetic charging. The PMIC may further includeadditional circuits such as coil loops, resonant circuits, rectifiers,or the like. The battery gauge may measure, for example, the remainingcapacity of the battery 296 and the voltage, current or temperaturethereof while the battery is charged. The battery 296 may be, forexample, a rechargeable battery and/or a solar battery.

The indicator 297 may display a specified state of the electronic device201 or a part thereof (e.g., the processor 210), such as states when theelectronic device 201 is booting state, transmitting/receiving amessage, charging state, etc. The motor 298 may convert an electricalsignal into a mechanical vibration and may generate vibration, hapticfeedback, etc. Although not illustrated, a processing device (e.g., aGPU) for supporting a mobile TV may be included in the electronic device201. The processing device for supporting the mobile TV may processmedia data according to the standards of digital multimedia broadcasting(DMB), digital video broadcasting (DVB), MediaFLO™, or the like.

Each of the above-mentioned elements of the electronic device accordingto various embodiments described in this disclosure may be configuredwith one or more components, and the names of the elements may bechanged according to the type of the electronic device. In variousembodiments, the electronic device may include at least one of theabove-mentioned elements, and some elements may be omitted or otheradditional elements may be added. Furthermore, some of the elements ofthe electronic device according to various embodiments may be combinedwith each other so as to form one entity, so that the functions of theelements may be performed in the same manner as before the combination.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a program module, according to oneembodiment.

According to an embodiment, the program module 310 (e.g., the program140) may include an operating system (OS) to control resourcesassociated with the corresponding electronic device (e.g., theelectronic device 101), and/or applications (e.g., the applicationprogram 147) executing on top of the OS. The OS may be, for example,Android, iOS, Windows, Symbian, Tizen, or Bada.

The program module 310 may include the kernel 320, the middleware 330,the application programming interface (API) 360, and/or one or moreapplications 370. At least a portion of the program module 310 may bepreloaded on the electronic device or may be downloadable from anexternal electronic device (e.g., the electronic device 102 or 104, theserver 106, or the like).

The kernel 320 (e.g., the kernel 141) may include, for example, thesystem resource manager 321 or the device driver 323. The systemresource manager 321 may control, allocate, or retrieve systemresources. According to an embodiment, the system resource manager 321may include a process managing unit, a memory managing unit, a filesystem managing unit, or the like. The device driver 323 may include,for example, a display driver, a camera driver, a Bluetooth driver, ashared memory driver, a USB driver, a keypad driver, a Wi-Fi driver, anaudio driver, or an inter-process communication (IPC) driver.

The middleware 330 may provide, for example, functions that theapplications 370 needs in common, or may provide various functions tothe applications 370 through the API 360 to allow the applications 370to efficiently use the limited system resources of the electronicdevice. According to an embodiment, the middleware 330 (e.g., themiddleware 143) may include at least one of the runtime library 335, theapplication manager 341, the window manager 342, the multimedia manager343, the resource manager 344, the power manager 345, the databasemanager 346, the package manager 347, the connectivity manager 348, thenotification manager 349, the location manager 350, the graphic manager351, the security manager 352, or the payment manager 354.

The runtime library 335 may include, for example, a library module thatis used by a compiler to generate new functions while the application370 is being executed. The runtime library 335 may perform input/outputmanagement, memory management, or arithmetic functions.

The application manager 341 may manage, for example, the life cycles ofthe applications 370. The window manager 342 may manage the graphic userinterface (GUI) resource that is used in the display. The multimediamanager 343 may identify formats necessary for playing back variousmedia files, and may perform encoding or decoding of the media files byusing codecs suitable for the formats. The resource manager 344 maymanage resources such as storage space, memory, or source code of theapplications 370.

The power manager 345 may operate, for example, with the basicinput/output system (BIOS) to manage power (e.g. battery power), and mayprovide power information for operations of the electronic device. Thedatabase manager 346 may generate, search for, or modify database thatis to be used in at least one application of the applications 370. Thepackage manager 347 may install or update the application that isdistributed in the package file.

The connectivity manager 348 may manage, for example, wirelessconnections such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. The notification manager 349 maydisplay or notify an event such as a received message, appointment, orproximity notification. The location manager 350 may manage locationinformation about the electronic device. The graphic manager 351 maymanage graphic effects displayed on the display, or manage the userinterface relevant thereto. The security manager 352 may providesecurity functions necessary for system security, such as userauthentication or the like. According to an embodiment, in the casewhere the electronic device (e.g., the electronic device 101) canperform telephony functions, the middleware 330 may further include atelephony manager for managing voice or video calls.

The middleware 330 may include a middleware module that combines variousfunctions of the above-described elements. The middleware 330 mayprovide modules specialized for each OS. Additionally, the middleware330 may dynamically remove a part of existing elements or may add newelements thereto.

The API 360 (e.g., the API 145) may be, for example, a set ofprogramming functions and may vary depending on the OS. For example, inthe case where the OS is Android, it may provide one API set suitablefor the Android OS. In the case where the OS is the tizen OS, it mayprovide two or more API sets.

The application(s) 370 (e.g., the application program 147) may include,for example, one or more applications such as the home screen 371, thedialer 372, the SMS/MMS application 373, the instant message (IM)application 374, the browser 375, the camera 376, the alarm 377, thecontacts 378, the voice dial 379, the e-mail application 380, thecalendar 381, the media player 382, the album application 383, atimepiece (clock application) 384, the payment application 385, healthcare applications (e.g., measuring exercise quantity undertaken by theuser, blood sugar, or the like) or environment information applications(e.g., measuring barometric pressure, humidity, temperature, or thelike).

According to an embodiment, the application 370 may include anapplication (hereinafter referred to as “information exchangingapplication” for descriptive convenience) to support informationexchange between the electronic device (e.g., the electronic device 101)and an external electronic device (e.g., the electronic device 102 or104). The information exchanging application may include, for example, anotification relay application for transmitting specified information tothe external electronic device, or a device management application formanaging the external electronic device.

For example, the notification relay application may perform the functionof transmitting notification information, which arises from otherapplications (e.g., applications for SMS/MMS, e-mail, health care, orenvironmental information), to an external electronic device (e.g., theelectronic device 102 or 104). Additionally, the notification relayapplication may receive, for example, notification information from theexternal electronic device and provide the notification information tothe user.

The device management application may manage (e.g., install, delete, orupdate), for example, at least one function (e.g., turn-on/turn-off of aportion or all of the external electronic device, adjust the brightnessor resolution of the display, etc.) of the external electronic device(e.g., the electronic device 102 or 104), an application running in theexternal electronic device, or a service (e.g., call service, messageservice, or the like) provided by the external electronic device.

According to an embodiment, the application 370 may include anapplication (e.g., a health care application of a mobile medical device)that is assigned in accordance with an attribute of the externalelectronic device (e.g., the electronic device 102 or 104). According toan embodiment, the application 370 may include an application that isreceived from the external electronic device (e.g., the server 106 orthe electronic device 102 or 104). According to an embodiment, theapplication 370 may include a preloaded application or a third partyapplication that is downloadable from a server. The names of elements ofthe program module 310 according to the embodiment may be modifiabledepending on the type of the underlying operating system.

According to various embodiments, at least a portion of the programmodule 310 may be implemented by software, firmware, hardware, or acombination of two or more thereof. At least a portion of the programmodule 310 may be implemented (e.g., executed), for example, by theprocessor (e.g., the processor 210). At least a portion of the programmodule 310 may include, for example, modules, programs, routines, setsof instructions, processes, or the like for performing one or morefunctions.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an electronic device according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure.

An electronic device 401 according to an embodiment is illustrated inFIG. 4. The electronic device 401 may support an active state (orwake-up state) in which a user is able to use functions of theelectronic device 401 and an inactive state (or sleep state) in whichthe user is not manipulating the electronic device 401.

In the active state (or wake-up state), various hardware and/softwaremodules in the electronic device 401 may be supplied with sufficientpower from a battery so as to fully perform functions thereof. Forexample, in the active state, a touchscreen display 410 of theelectronic device 401 may be supplied with sufficient power to displayvarious contents and also be capable of detecting various touch inputsor gestures from the user with high sensitivity.

In the inactive state (or sleep state), various hardware and/softwaremodules included in the electronic device 401 may be deactivated or maybe supplied with minimum power so as to perform only a specifiedrestricted function. As such, since information processing by hardwareand/or software modules is suppressed, battery life may be prolonged.For example, in the inactive state, the processor of the electronicdevice 401 may allow the hardware modules and/or the software modules toperform only specified functions for the inactive state.

According to an embodiment, the electronic device 401 illustrated inFIG. 4 may operate the touchscreen display in the inactive state (orsleep state). For example, the electronic device 401 in the inactivestate may output text/images indicating a digital clock, the date, andthe battery state (e.g. charge level of the battery) in the first area411 of the touchscreen display 410. Also, the electronic device 401 mayoutput various types of GUI objects (or icons) in the second area 412 ofthe display 410. The text, images, GUI objects, and the like included inthe first area 411 and the second area 412 may be collectively referredto as “AOD content”.

According to an embodiment, in the electronic device 401 operating inthe inactive state, pixels that form the text, the images, the GUIobjects, and the like in the first area 411 and the second area 412 maybe displayed in a specified color (e.g., white). According to oneembodiment of the present disclosure, the remaining pixels that form thebackground for the AOD content may be displayed in another specifiedcolor (e.g., black). In this example, if the touchscreen display 410 isan organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panel, the pixels forming thebackground may be OFF.

According to an embodiment, the text, the images, the GUI objects, andthe like in the first area 411 and the second area 412 may periodicallyor aperiodically move vertically or horizontally. This is to preventburn-in of pixels displaying the text, the images, and the GUI objects,such as when the touchscreen display 410 is an organic light-emittingdiode (OLED) panel.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronicdevice 401 in the inactive state (e.g., sleep state) may sense a touchinput to a GUI object in the second area 412 of the touchscreen display410. Below, a method for sensing the touch input to the GUI object andan electronic device performing the same will be described withreference to drawings.

FIG. 5A illustrates a block diagram of an electronic device according toone embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 5A, an electronic device 501 according to anembodiment may include a display panel 510, a display driver integratedcircuit (IC) (DDI) 515, a touch sensor 520, a touch controller 525, ahaptic actuator 530, a memory 540, a processor 550, a pressure sensor560, and a pressure sensor IC 565. According to an embodiment, theelectronic device 501 may include a housing that forms the exterior ofthe electronic device 501. The housing may include a first surface(e.g., front surface) and a second surface (e.g. rear surface) oppositethe first surface.

The display panel 510 may be exposed through an opening or a transparentwindow of the first surface of the housing and may be interposed betweenthe first surface and the second surface. The display panel 510 mayreceive an image signal from the display driver integrated circuit (DDI)515. The display panel 510 may display a variety of content (e.g., text,images, videos, icons, widgets, symbols, or the like) based on the imagesignal. In one embodiment, the display panel 510 may include the touchsensor panel 520 and/or a digitizer panel (not illustrated) forrecognizing an electronic pen. In this disclosure, an assembly of thedisplay panel 510 and the touch sensor 520 may be referred to as a“touchscreen display”.

The display driver integrated circuit (DDI) 515 may be electricallyconnected with the display panel 510 and may supply image signalscorresponding to image data received from the processor 550 to thedisplay panel 510. Although not illustrated in FIG. 5A, according to oneor more embodiments, the display driver integrated circuit 515 mayinclude a graphics RAM, an interface module, an image processing unit,one or more multiplexers, a display timing controller (T-con), a sourcedriver, a gate driver, and/or one or more oscillator.

According to an embodiment, the display driver integrated circuit 515may supply the image signal to the display panel 510 at a specifiedframe rate (e.g., 60 frames per second) in the active state (or wake-upstate). In this case, the processor 550 may provide image data to thedisplay driver integrated circuit 515 at a relatively high frequency inthe active state, compared with when the processor 550 operates in theinactive state (or sleep state).

According to an embodiment, in the inactive state (or sleep state),based on image data stored in the embedded graphics RAM, the displaydriver integrated circuit 515 may provide the image signal correspondingto the image data to the display panel 510 at a relatively low frequencycompared with when the electronic device 501 was operating in the activestate (or wake-up state). In this case, while operating the inactivestate, the processor 550 may temporarily operate in the active state (orwake-up state) to provide the image data to the display driverintegrated circuit 515. Afterwards, the processor 550 may back to theinactive state and thus would no longer affect the internal operationsof the display driver integrated circuit 515.

The touch sensor 520 may be interposed between the display panel 510 andthe first surface of the housing of the electronic device 501 so thatthe touch sensor 520 is overlaid with the display panel 510.Alternatively, the touch sensor 520 may be coupled with the displaypanel 510. In the touch sensor 520, a specified physical quantity (e.g.,voltage, light intensity, resistance, amount of electrical charge,capacitance, or the like) may vary when the touch sensor 520 is touchedby the user. According to various embodiments, the touch sensor 520 maybe referred to using various names, such as touch panel, touch inputpanel, etc.

The touch controller 525 may be electrically connected with the touchsensor 520, may sense the variation in physical quantity that occurs inthe touch sensor 520, and then may calculate data associated with thetouch (e.g., the location (expressed in coordinate data (X, Y)) of thetouch) based on the variation in physical quantity. The data associatedwith the touch may be provided to the processor 550.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, if a portion(e.g., a finger) of the user or the tip of an electronic pen makescontact with the touch sensor 520, capacitance between a transmittingterminal Tx and a receiving terminal Rx in the touch sensor 520 mayvary. For example, the variation in the capacitance may be sensed by thetouch controller 525, and the touch controller 525 may provide thecoordinate location of the touch to the processor 550. The processor 550may process the location data of the touch as an event associated with auser input.

According to various embodiments, the touch controller 525 may variouslybe referred to as a “touch IC”, a “touch screen IC”, a “touch screencontroller IC”, etc. According to some embodiments, in an electronicdevice in which the touch controller 525 is not included, the processor550 may perform the role of the touch controller 525. According toanother embodiment, the touch controller 525 and the processor 550 maybe implemented as one element (e.g., one-chip).

The haptic actuator 530 may provide the user with haptic feedback (e.g.,vibration) in response to control commands from the processor 550. Forexample, when a touch input (e.g., a physical touch, a hovering input,or a “force touch”) is received from the user, the haptic actuator 530may provide the user with haptic feedback.

An audio output module 535 may provide the user with auditory feedback(e.g., sound) in response to control commands from the processor 550.For example, when a touch input (e.g., a physical touch, a hoveringinput, and a “force touch”) is received from the user, the audio outputmodule 535 may provide the user with auditory feedback. For example, theaudio output module 535 may include a speaker (e.g., 282 of FIG. 2)and/or an earphone/headset (e.g., 286 of FIG. 2).

The memory 540 may store commands or data associated with operations ofelements included in the electronic device 501. For example, the memory540 may store an application program for outputting text, images, GUIobject, or the like (e.g., see 411 and 412 of FIG. 4) in the inactivestate (e.g., sleep state). Also, for example, the memory 540 may storeinstructions that, when executed, cause the processor 550 and/or thetouch controller 525 to perform various operations (e.g., FIGS. 6, 9,10, etc.) disclosed in this disclosure.

In one embodiment, the processor 550 may be electrically connected withthe elements 510 to 550 included in the electronic device 501 and mayexecute operations or data processing associated with control and/orcommunication of the elements 510 to 550 included in the electronicdevice 501.

Pressure (or force) by an external object (e.g., a finger or anelectronic pen) may be sensed in the pressure sensor 560. According toan embodiment, the pressure sensor 560 may include a plurality ofelectrodes (e.g., transmitting terminals Tx and receiving terminals Rx)with dielectric layers interposed therebetween. If pressure from anexternal object is received, a physical quantity (e.g., capacitance orthe like) between the plurality of electrodes may vary.

The pressure sensor IC 565 may sense the variation in physical quantity(e.g., capacitance or the like) in the pressure sensor 560 and maycalculate pressure based on the variation in physical quantity. Thecalculated pressure may be provided to the processor 550 together withthe touch location detected in the touch sensor 520. According tovarious embodiments, the pressure sensor IC 565 may be referred to as a“force touch controller,” a “force sensor IC,” a “pressure panel IC,”etc. Also, according to one embodiment, the pressure sensor IC 565 maybe implemented with one element (e.g., one-chip) together with the touchcontroller 525 and/or the display driver integrated circuit 515.

FIG. 5B illustrates a touch sensor according to one embodiment.

Two types of touch sensors 520-1 and 520-2 are illustrated in FIG. 5B.The first touch sensor 520-1 may be referred to as a mutual capacitivetouch sensor, and the second touch sensor 520-2 may be referred to as aself-capacitive touch sensor. Each of the touch sensors 520-1 and 520-2may correspond to the touch sensor 520 illustrated in FIG. 5A.

According to an embodiment, the first touch sensor 520-1 may include aplurality of first electrode strips 521 and a plurality of secondelectrode strips 522. The first electrode strips 521 may be disposedunder the second electrode strips 522 in a horizontal direction. Thesecond electrode strips 522 disposed in a vertical direction so that thefirst electrode strips 521 and the second electrode strips 522 form alattice shape. For example, in the first touch sensor 520-1, each of thefirst electrode strips 521 and the second electrode strips 522 may eachbe formed as a conductive pattern on a sheet. In this case, whenassembled, the first electrode strip 521 and the second electrode strip522 are orthogonal to each other. The touch controller (e.g., 525 ofFIG. 5A) may measure capacitance between the first electrode strip 521and the second electrode strip 522 at a predetermined frequency.

According to another embodiment, the second touch sensor 520-2 mayinclude a plurality of first electrode patches 523 and a plurality ofsecond electrode patches 524. Each of the first electrode patches 523may be disposed below each of the second electrode patches 524. Each ofthe first electrode patches 523 and the second electrode patches 524 mayhave substantially the same size. The first electrode patches 523 andthe second electrode patches 524 may be shaped as an array. For example,in the second touch sensor 520-2, the first electrode patches 523 andthe second electrode patches 524 may each be formed as a conductivearray on a sheet. In this case, when assembled, each of the firstelectrode patches 523 and its corresponding second electrode patches 524may be disposed to face each other. According to an embodiment, thetouch controller may measure capacitance between the first electrodepatch 523 and the second electrode patch 524 at a predeterminedfrequency.

According to an embodiment, in the first touch sensor 520-1 and thesecond touch sensor 520-2 above described, the first electrode 521/523and the second electrode 522/524 may be formed on separate sheets (e.g.,separate flexible printed circuit boards (FPCBs)) or may be respectivelyformed on opposite surfaces of a single sheet. Spacers may be disposedbetween the first electrode 521/523 and the second electrode 522/524,and any one of the first electrode 521/523 and the second electrode522/524 may be connected to an internal common ground of the electronicdevice.

For example, a user touch may not exist at the area C1, in which an n-thfirst electrode strip 521-n and an m-th second electrode strip 522-m ofthe first touch sensor 520-1 cross each other, and at the area C2corresponding to a first electrode patch 523(x,y) and a second electrodepatch 524(x,y) that are disposed at the x-th row and y-th column of thesecond touch sensor 520-2. Preset (default) capacitance Ca may be formedat the area C1 and the area C2. The capacitance Ca may be sensed by thetouch controller at the predetermined frequency.

Meanwhile, user touches 51 and 52 may be made at the area D1, in which aq-th first electrode strip 521-q and a p-th second electrode strip 522-pof the first touch sensor 520-1 cross each other, and at the area D2corresponding to a first electrode patch 523(i,j) and a second electrodepatch 524(i,j) that are disposed at the i-th row and j-th column of thesecond touch sensor 520-2. In this case, in the areas D1 and D2,capacitance between electrodes may vary due to the user touches 51 and52. Specifically, capacitance between the first electrode strip 521-qand the second electrode strip 522-p and capacitance between the firstelectrode patch 523(i,j) and the second electrode patch 524(i,j) mayincrease from Ca to Ct when the user touches 51 and 52 occur. The touchcontroller may sense the touches 51 and 52 by sensing the increase inthe capacitance.

FIG. 6A is a block diagram of a touch sensor according to oneembodiment.

Referring to FIG. 6A, an electronic device 601 according to anembodiment may include a touchscreen display 610, a display driverintegrated circuit (DDI) 620, a touch controller 630 including aregister 640 (in detail, refer to FIG. 7B), and a processor 650. Theregister 640 may be implemented as a non-volatile memory. The electronicdevice 601 may correspond to the electronic device illustrated in FIGS.1 to 5A, and a description that is the same or similar as thedescription given with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5A may be omitted.

The touchscreen display 610 may include a display panel (e.g., 510illustrated in FIG. 5) and a touch sensor (e.g., 520 illustrated in FIG.5). Accordingly, for example, content (e.g. text, images, GUI objects,or the like) that is output to the touchscreen display 610 may beunderstood as content that is outputted to the display panel included inthe touchscreen display 610. Also, a detected touch to the touchscreendisplay 610 may be understood as a touch detected by the touch sensorincluded in the touchscreen display 610.

According to an embodiment, the processor 650 may interact with thedisplay driver integrated circuit 620. For example, the processor 650may provide image data of the AOD content (e.g., text, images, GUIobjects, or the like) to be output in at least a partial area (e.g., thefirst area 611 and/or the second area 612) of the touchscreen display610. The image data of the AOD content may be stored in a graphics RAM(GRAM) 625 included in the display driver integrated circuit 620. Whileoperating the inactive state, the processor 650 may temporarily operatein the active state (or wake-up state) to provide the image data to thegraphics RAM (GRAM) 625. After provision of the image data, theprocessor 650 may enter back to the inactive state (or sleep state).

The processor 650 may provide the image data to the graphics RAM (GRAM)625, for example, periodically or aperiodically due to external events.For example, the processor 650 may periodically provide image data(e.g., including the digital clock image) to the graphics RAM (GRAM)625. In this case, the frequency at which the processor 650 providesimage data to the graphics RAM (GRAM) 625 may be lower than the framerate of the touchscreen display 610. For another example, when anotification occurs, the processor 650 may provide image data (e.g., anicon image of an IM application) indicating the notification to thegraphics RAM (GRAM) 625 immediately or shortly after the notificationoccurrence.

According to an embodiment, the display driver integrated circuit 620may store the image data provided from the processor 650 in the graphicsRAM (GRAM) 625. The display driver integrated circuit 620 may convertthe image data stored in the graphics RAM (GRAM) 625 into an imagesignal depending on internal settings or control information receivedfrom the processor 650. Since the image signal is supplied to thetouchscreen display 610 (i.e. the display panel included in thetouchscreen display 610) by the display driver integrated circuit 620,the AOD content (text, images, GUI objects, or the like) may be outputin at least a partial area (e.g., the first area 611 and the second area612) of the touchscreen display 610.

For example, the display driver integrated circuit 620 may receive imagedata such as icons, numbers, images, or the like from the processor 650in the active state (or wake-up state). The processor 650 may then enterthe inactive state (or sleep state) after providing the image data tothe display driver integrated circuit 620. In the inactive state (orsleep state), the display driver integrated circuit 620 may combine thevarious icons, numbers, images, or the like included in image data togenerate an image signal based on control information (e.g., controlinformation indicating notification content) received from the processor650. The display driver integrated circuit 620 may then output and/orupdate the touchscreen display 610 with the image signal by its ownoperation.

According to an embodiment, the processor 650 may interact with thetouch controller 630. The processor 650 may write data associated withan area (hereinafter referred to as a “touch recognition area,” e.g.,the second area 612) in the register 640 of the touch controller 630.The touch recognition area is a partial area of the touch sensor that isconfigured to detect (effective) touch inputs while the electronicdevice is in the inactive state. The processor 650 may temporarilyoperate in the active state (or wake-up state) to write data associatedwith the touch recognition area (e.g., the second area 612) in theregister 640. The processor 650 may enter the inactive state (or sleepstate) after writing the data in the register 640.

According to an embodiment, the data associated with the touchrecognition area (e.g., the second area 612) may include width andheight data for the specified area, and include coordinate data(X_(offset), Y_(offset)) associated with one point to define acircumference of the touch recognition area. According to oneembodiment, the touch recognition area may include a plurality of touchrecognition areas, and data associated with the plurality of touchrecognition areas may be written in the register 640 as an array or atable.

According to an embodiment, the processor 650 may write the dataassociated with the touch recognition area in the register 640periodically or aperiodically due to external events. For example, thedata associated with the touch recognition area (e.g., the second area612) may be updated periodically or aperiodically to synchronize withthe location of content displayed in the second area 612.

According to an embodiment, the touch controller 630 may determinewhether an effective touch is sensed in the touch recognition area(e.g., the second area 612) based on the data about touch recognitionarea (e.g., the second area 612) written in the register 640. Incontrast, in the inactive state, touches on the touch screen outside thetouch recognition area (e.g., the second area 612) are non-effective.Further, in some embodiments, as will be described later, some touchesinside of touch recognition area (e.g., the second area 612) may not berecognized as effective touches for avoiding recognition of unintendedtouches. If it is determined that the effective touch is sensed in thetouch recognition area (e.g., the second area 612), the touch controller630 may write data (e.g., location coordinate data of the effectivetouch or the like) associated with the effective touch in the register640 and may provide an interrupt to the processor 650. Each of theabove-described operations of the touch controller 630 may be performedby a gesture engine 635 (software) embedded in an IC constituting thetouch controller 630.

The processor 650 may read data associated with the effective touch fromthe register 640 in response to the interrupt from the touch controller630. According to an embodiment, the processor 650 may identify the GUIobject displayed at the location corresponding to the location of theeffective touch. Afterwards, according to one embodiment, the processor650 may apply a specified graphic effect to the identified GUI objectand/or may execute an application program corresponding to theidentified GUI object.

According to an embodiment, in the inactive state, the touch controller630 may drive the touch sensor at a first frequency. But if a touch issensed in the touch sensor, the touch controller 630 may drive the touchsensor at a second frequency higher than the first frequency, so thatthe touch sensor can more accurately detect an effective touch (indetail, refer to FIG. 7A).

According to an embodiment, the touch controller 630 may recognizevarious types of effective touches depending on settings of the register640. For example, the types of effective touches are initially definedin the register 640. For another example, the processor 650 may writedata indicating types of the effective touch in locations of theregister 640 (e.g., refer to 743-1 to 743-N of FIG. 7B). When a touch isrecognized, the touch controller 630 may determine whether an effectivetouch of a specific type is sensed, with reference to data indicatingthe type written in the register 640.

For example, when a double touch (or a double tap) is designated andenabled as the effective touch, type data corresponding to the doubletouch may be stored in a storage space (e.g., refer to 743-1 of FIG. 7B)of the register 640. Thereby, the touch controller 630 may recognize adouble touch (or a double tap) on the touchscreen display 610 as theeffective touch. Also, for example, when a long press (i.e., a touchdown made during a specified time or more) is designated and enabled asthe effective touch, type data corresponding to the long press may bestored in another storage space (e.g., refer to 743-2 of FIG. 7B) of theregister 640. Thereby, the touch controller 630 may recognize a longpress on the touchscreen display 610 as the effective touch. Preferably,but not limited to, a single tap may not be is designated as theeffective touch for avoiding unintended touches in some situations(e.g., touching or grabbing the electronic device 601 in the user'spocket).

Also, as described above, the processor 650 may read data associatedwith the effective touch from the register 640 and may identify the GUIobject corresponding to the effective touch. Afterwards, the processor650 may execute an application program corresponding to the identifiedGUI object.

According to an embodiment, the effective touch (e.g., a double touch, along press, or the like) may include at least one touch down and atleast one touch release. Before the touch controller 630 according to anembodiment executes the application program corresponding to theidentified GUI object, the touch controller 630 may write dataindicating the at least one touch down or the at least one touch releasein the register 640. Upon detecting an effective touch, the touchcontroller 630 may provide an interrupt to the processor 650. Theprocessor 650 may apply a specified graphic effect (e.g., colorinversion of the identified GUI object or temporaryenlargement/reduction of the identified GUI object) to the identifiedGUI object in response to the interrupt.

FIG. 6B illustrates touch recognition by a touch sensor according to oneembodiment.

Referring to FIG. 6B, the touchscreen display 610-s may include aself-capacitive touch sensor, and the touchscreen display 610-m mayinclude a mutual capacitive touch sensor (refer to FIG. 5B with regardto a detailed description of the self-capacitive touch sensor and themutual capacitive touch sensor). Meanwhile, data associated with aspecified area (i.e., the touch recognition area) 612 for sensing aneffective touch in the touchscreen displays 610-s and 610-m may be inadvance stored in the register included in a touch controller (refer to741 of FIG. 7B).

According to an embodiment, in the touchscreen display 610-s includingthe self-capacitive touch sensor, the touch controller may activate onlythe touch recognition area 612 and may deactivate the remaining area.For example, the touch controller may scan only the capacitance value ofelectrode patches corresponding to the touch recognition area 612. Thetouch controller may not scan capacitance values of the electrodepatches outside the touch recognition area 612.

According to an embodiment, in the touchscreen display 610-m includingthe mutual capacitive touch sensor, the touch controller may activateonly the touch recognition area 612. To this end, the touch controllermay scan capacitance values between longitudinal electrode stripscorresponding to a width “W” of the touch recognition area 612 andtransverse electrode strips corresponding to a height “H” of the touchrecognition area 612. Since the touch controller scans only thecapacitance value between the transverse electrode strip correspondingto the width “W” and the longitudinal electrode strip corresponding tothe height “H”, the touch controller may not scan capacitance valuesoutside the touch recognition area 612.

According to touchscreen displays 610-s and 610-m illustrated in FIG.6B, the touch controller may activate the hardware corresponding to thetouch recognition area 612 and may deactivate the remaining area.Accordingly, it may be possible to reduce power consumption by the touchscreen in the inactive state but at the same time allowing the touchscreen to be capable of detecting effective touches. However, activationof the touch recognition area 612 illustrated in FIG. 6B is an example.The disclosed invention is not so limited. For example, the touchcontroller may activate the entire area of the touch sensor and may notreport touches detected from the non-touch recognition area to theprocessor. Doing so would accomplish the same effect as the exampleillustrated in FIG. 6B.

FIG. 6C illustrates movement of a touch recognition area according toone embodiment.

According to an embodiment, when the electronic device is in theinactive state, AOD content (e.g., a digital clock, a GUI object, or thelike) displayed in the first area 611 and the second area 612 may movevertically or horizontally depending on operations of a touch-displaydriver integrated circuit (TDDI) 660. The TDDI 660 may comprise thecorresponding component to the DDI 515 and the corresponding componentto the touch controller 525. The AOD content may be moved to preventburn-in of pixels in touchscreen displays 610-1, 610-2, and 610-3. TheTDDI 660 illustrated in FIG. 6C may refer to a single chip in which thedisplay driver integrated circuit 620 and the touch controller 630 areintegrated.

For example, referring to the touchscreen display 610-1, the digitalclock, the date, the battery state, and the like may be displayed in thefirst area 611 as the AOD content, and five GUI objects (e.g., icons)may be displayed in the second area 612. To this end, the display driverintegrated circuit 620 included in the TDDI 660 may automatically outputand/or update content displayed in the first area 611 and/or the secondarea 612 based on image data stored in a graphics RAM (GRAM).

According to an embodiment, the second area 612 may correspond to thetouch recognition area. To recognize a touch in the second area 612, thetouch controller 630 included in the TDDI 660 may obtain a display rangeof the second area 612 from the display driver integrated circuit 620and may write the obtained result in a register as the touch recognitionarea. That is, the TDDI 660 may synchronize the AOD content output areain the second area 612 and the touch recognition area through its ownprocessing.

According to an embodiment, the TDDI 660 may automatically move the AODcontent displayed in the first area 611 and the second area 612vertically or horizontally. For example, the TDDI 660 may horizontallymove AOD content output in the first area 611 and/or the second area 612at regular intervals in the daytime and may vertically move the AODcontent at night, also at regular intervals. The reason is that thevision of a human is more sensitive to vertical movement than tohorizontal movement. For another example, the distance that the firstarea 611 and/or the second area 612 moves is less in the daytimecompared to at night. The reason is that the electronic device 601 isgenerally used more frequently in the daytime than in night.

For example, referring to the touchscreen display 610-2, the displaydriver integrated circuit 620 of the TDDI 660 may display AOD contentabove the previous position (as shown in 610-1). As the display locationof the second area 612 including AOD content moves, the touch controller630 may obtain the display range of the second area 612 from the displaydriver integrated circuit 620 and may update the touch recognition areastored in the register based on the obtained display range. As such, theAOD content output area in the second area 612 and the touch recognitionarea may be synchronized and may overlap. As in the above description,after a predetermined interval, as illustrated in the touchscreendisplay 610-3, the AOD content displayed in the first area 611 and thesecond area 612 may be moved again upward.

According to one embodiment, before switching into the inactive state,the processor may write data (hereinafter referred to as “time data”)specifying the regular intervals for moving the AOD content into theregister. The touch controller 630 may move the touch recognition area(e.g., the second area 612) at a time that the time data indicates.

FIG. 7A illustrates an operation of a touch controller in an inactivestate (e.g., sleep state), according to one embodiment.

How the touch controller 630 recognizes a touch while being in theinactive state (e.g., sleep state) is illustrated in FIG. 7A. Accordingto an embodiment, in the inactive state (or sleep state), the touchcontroller 630 may operate in a low power mode (LPM). The low power modeLPM of the touch controller 630 may include a low power idle (LPI) mode(hereinafter referred to as an “LPI mode”) and a low power active (LPA)mode (hereinafter referred to as an “LPA mode”). Below, referencenumerals of FIG. 6A will be used to describe FIG. 7A.

According to an embodiment, before a first touch 71 is recognized(t<t0), the touch controller 630 may operate in the LPI mode. In the LPImode, the touch controller 630 may drive the touch sensor of thetouchscreen display 610 at a scan rate of a first frequency (e.g., 40Hz). For example, in the LPI mode, the touch controller 630 may measureself-capacitance or mutual-capacitance of the touch sensor at the firstfrequency. In this case, to reduce current consumption, the touchcontroller 630 may deactivate various filters (e.g., noise preventionfilters, etc.) for calculating a touch input.

If the first touch 71 is made at a time point t0, the touch controller630 may additionally have an additional LPI frame t1 to t2 of 25 ms, as“debounce”, after the LPI frame t0 to t1 of 25 ms. The debounce frame t1to t2 may refer to a time interval that is set to determine whether thefirst touch 71 is made by the user or by noise. According to anotherembodiments, the debounce frame t1 to t2 may be omitted, meaning thedebounce frame may be optional.

After the debounce frame t1 to t2, the touch controller 630 may have achange time t2 to t3 of about 2 to 3 ms to switch into the LPA mode.

The touch controller 630 may operate in the LPA mode from the time pointt3. In the LPA mode, the touch controller 630 may drive the touch sensorat a scan rate of a second frequency higher than the first frequency. Inthis case, the touch controller 630 may activate various filtersincluded in the touch controller 630 in order to more exactly calculatethe touch location of a touch.

For example, the touch controller 630 operating in the LPA mode maydetermine whether the first touch 71 is a touch from the user, duringthe LPA frame t3 to t4 of 16.66 ms. The LPA frame t3 to t4 may bereferred to as an “island detect frame.” If it is determined at the LPAframe t3 to t4 that the first touch 71 is not made in the touchrecognition area (e.g., the second area 612 of FIG. 6), the first touch71 is not considered for determining an effective touch and touchcontroller 630 may enter the LPI mode again.

However, when it is determined that the first touch 71 is an effectivetouch by the user (i.e. when the first touch 71 is in the touchrecognition area), the touch controller 630 operating in the LPA modemay calculate the location coordinate of the first touch 71 during atime period t4 to t5 by using the appropriate algorithm.

A single touch (e.g., the first touch 71) is used as an example in FIG.7A. However, embodiments of the present disclosure may not be limitedthereto. According to various embodiments, the effective touch mayinclude a double touch or a long press. For example, when the effectivetouch is specified to have to be a double touch, only when a secondtouch is additionally sensed within a specified time (e.g., about 500ms) from t5 of FIG. 7A, the touch controller 630 may determine that theeffective touch is recognized. Also, for example, when the effectivetouch is specified to have to be a long press, only when the first touch71 is consecutively sensed until a specified time elapses from t5 ofFIG. 7A, the touch controller 630 may determine that the effective touchis recognized. Meanwhile, according to one embodiment, if it isdetermined that the effective touch is not recognized, the touchcontroller 630 may immediately enter the LPI mode or may enter the LPImode after a predetermined time period (e.g. 3 seconds).

FIG. 7B illustrates a register of a touch controller according to oneembodiment.

A register 740 according to an embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 7B. Forexample, the register 740 may correspond to the register 640 of FIG. 6A.For example, the register 740 may be implemented with a volatile memory,a nonvolatile memory, or a combination thereof. According to variousembodiments, the register 740 may be simply referred to as a “memory.”

The register 740 may provide storage space where data are written orread by a processor (650 of FIG. 6) or a touch controller (630 of FIG.6). For convenience of description, reference numerals of FIG. 6 will beused to describe FIG. 7B. Also, various storage spaces are illustratedin FIG. 7B as examples.

According to an embodiment, data associated with the touch recognitionarea may be written in the storage space 741 by the processor 650. Forexample, the data may include width data “W” and height data “H” of thetouch recognition area, or coordinate data (X_(offset), Y_(offset))associated with one point to define a circumference of the touchrecognition area. The coordinate data (X_(offset), Y_(offset)), thewidth data “W”, and height data “H” may be expressed with several bytesand identify certain the pixels in the touchscreen display 610.

According to an embodiment, data associated with an effective touch maybe written in the storage space 742 by the touch controller 630. Thedata about the effective touch written in the storage space 742 may beread by the processor 650. For example, the data associated with theeffective touch may include coordinate data (Xt, Yt) of the locationwhere the effective touch was made (in detail, refer to FIG. 8A). Thecoordinate data (Xt, Yt) may be expressed with several bytes andidentify certain pixels included in the touchscreen display 610. Asanother example, the data associated with the effective touch mayinclude identification information ICON_ID of a division area within thetouch recognition area where the effective touch was made (in detail,refer to FIG. 8B).

According to an embodiment, data indicating types of the effective touchmay be written in the storage spaces 743-1, 743-2, . . . , and 743-N bythe processor 650. For example, the types of the effective touch mayinclude a double touch including a first touch and a second touch, atouch down (i.e., a long press) made for at least a specified timeduration, etc. The types of the effective touch may not be limited tothe double touch and the long press. For example, the types of theeffective touch may also include a touch (a so-called “force touch”) ofspecified pressure or higher and a proximity touch (e.g., a hoveringinput or the like).

For example, the storage space 743-1 may be a storage space for enablinga double touch as an effective touch. In this case, the processor 650may write specific data in the storage space 743-1 such that a doubletouch can be recognized as an effective touch. As such, if the doubletouch is recognized with reference to the storage space 743-1, the touchcontroller 630 may determine that an effective touch is sensed.

As in the above description, the storage space 743-2 may be a storagespace for enabling a long press as an effective touch. In this case, theprocessor 650 may write specific data in the storage space 743-2 suchthat a long press can be recognized as an effective touch. As such, ifthe long press is recognized with reference to the storage space 743-2,the touch controller 630 may determine that an effective touch issensed.

According to an embodiment, data indicating a touch down and dataindicating a touch release may be respectively written in a storagespace 744-1 and a storage space 744-2 by the touch controller 630. Forexample, the touch controller 630 may recognize at least one touch downand at least one touch release included in an effective touch (e.g., adouble touch or a long press), may store the recognized results in thestorage space 744-1 and the storage space 744-2, and may provide aninterrupt to the processor 650. The processor 650 may read the storagespace 744-1 and the storage space 744-2 in response to the interrupt.The processor 650 may determine a touch down and/or a touch releasebased on the read result and may apply a specified graphic effect (e.g.,color inversion) to a GUI object corresponding to the effective touch.

FIG. 8A illustrates recognition of an effective double touch accordingto an embodiment.

A specified area 801 a for sensing an effective double touch while theelectronic device is in the inactive state (e.g., sleep state) isillustrated in FIG. 8A. The specified area 801 a may correspond to thesecond area 412 illustrated in FIG. 4 or the second area 612 illustratedin FIG. 6. To recognize a double touch as the effective touch, data forenabling the double touch may have been written in the storage space743-1 illustrated in FIG. 7B.

According to an embodiment, a touch controller may determine thespecified area 801 a based on data stored in a specified storage space(e.g., the storage space 741 of FIG. 7B) of the register of the touchcontroller. For example, top-left coordinate data (Xa, Ya) of thespecific area 801 a, width Wa of the specified area 801 a, and height Haof the specified area 801 a may be included in the specified storagespace (e.g., the storage space 741 of FIG. 7B) of the register.

Also, according to an embodiment, GUI objects 811 a, 812 a, 813 a, 814a, and 815 a may be displayed in the specified area 801 a. Each of theGUI objects 811 a to 815 a may be an application icon.

For example, the user may perform a double touch 8 a on the GUI object811 a to execute the application corresponding to the GUI object 811 a.The double touch 8 a may have a first touch 81 a and second touch 82 a.If the distance D1 between the location of the first touch 81 a and thelocation of the second touch 82 a is not greater than a specifieddistance D0, the touch controller may determine that the double touch 8a is an effective touch.

If the touch controller determines the double touch 8 a as an effectivetouch, the touch controller may write location coordinate data (Xt, Yt)corresponding to the first touch 81 a in a specified storage space(e.g., the storage space 742 of FIG. 7B) as data associated with theeffective touch. The touch controller may then transmit an interrupt toa processor.

In response to the interrupt, the processor may read the locationcoordinate data (Xt, Yt) corresponding to the first touch 81 a from thespecified storage space (e.g., the storage space 742 of FIG. 7B) of theregister. Next, the processor may identify that the GUI object 811 acorresponds to the coordinate data (Xt, Yt) and may execute anapplication corresponding to the GUI object 811 a.

In contrast, if the distance D1 between the location of the first touch81 a and the location of the second touch 82 a is greater than thespecified distance D0, if the second touch 82 a is not sensed within apreset time interval after the detection of the first touch 81 a, or ifthe second touch 82 a is not detected within the specified area 801 a,the touch controller may determine that the double touch 8 a is anon-effective touch.

FIG. 8B illustrates recognition of an effective double touch accordingto another embodiment.

A specified area 801 b for sensing an effective double touch while theelectronic device is in the inactive state (e.g., sleep state) isillustrated in FIG. 8B. The specified area 801 b may correspond to thesecond area 412 illustrated in FIG. 4 or the second area 612 illustratedin FIG. 6. To recognize a double touch as the effective touch, data forenabling the double touch may have been written in the storage space743-1 illustrated in FIG. 7B.

According to an embodiment, a touch controller may determine thespecified area 801 b based on data stored in a specified storage space(e.g., the storage space 741 of FIG. 7B) of the register of the touchcontroller. For example, top-left coordinate data (Xb, Yb) of thespecified area 801 b, width Wb of the specified area 801 b, and heightHb of the specified area 801 b may be included in the specified storagespace (e.g., the storage space 741 of FIG. 7B) of the register.

According to an embodiment, the specified area 801 b may include aplurality of division areas. For example, the specified area 801 b maybe divided into a first division area including the GUI object 811 b, asecond division area including the GUI object 812 b, a third divisionarea including the GUI object 813 b, a fourth division area includingthe GUI object 814 b, and a fifth division area including the GUI object815 b.

According to an embodiment, the specified area 801 b may be divided intothe first division area to the fifth division area based on the number(e.g., 5) of GUI objects included in the specified area 801 b. Forexample, a processor may specify the number (e.g., 5) of GUI objects ina register, and the touch controller may distinguish the first divisionarea to the fifth division area by dividing the width Wb (or the heightHb) of the specified area 801 b by the number (e.g., 5) of GUI objects.

For example, the user may perform a double touch (8 b) on the GUI object812 b to execute an application corresponding to the GUI object 812 b.If the location of the first touch 81 b of the double touch 8 b and thelocation of the second touch 82 b are in the same division area, thetouch controller may determine that the double touch 8 b is an effectivetouch.

If the touch controller determines the double touch 8 b as an effectivetouch, the touch controller may write location coordinate datacorresponding to the first touch 81 b in a specified storage space(e.g., the storage space 742 of FIG. 7B) as data associated with theeffective touch. If the touch controller may then transmit an interruptto a processor.

According to another embodiment, if the touch controller determines thedouble touch 8 b as an effective touch, the touch controller may writeidentification information ICON_ID_2 of the second division areaincluding the GUI object 812 b in a specified storage space (e.g., thestorage space 742 of FIG. 7B) of the register as data associated with aneffective touch. Afterwards, the touch controller may transmit aninterrupt to the processor.

In response to the interrupt, the processor may read the coordinate dataof the location corresponding to the first touch 81 b or theidentification information ICON_ID_2 of the second division area fromthe specified storage space (e.g., the storage space 742 of FIG. 7B).Next, the processor may identify the GUI object 812 b corresponds to thecoordinate data of the first touch 81 b or the identificationinformation ICON_ID_2. Accordingly, the processor may execute anapplication corresponding to the GUI object 812 b.

In contrast, if the location of the first touch 81 b and the location ofthe second touch 82 b is not within the same division area, if thesecond touch 82 b is not sensed within a preset time interval after thedetection of the first touch 81 b, or if the second touch 82 b is notdetected within than the specified area 801 b, the touch controller maydetermine that the double touch 8 b is a non-effective touch.

FIG. 8C illustrates recognition of an effective double touch accordingto yet another embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 8C, while the electronic device is in the inactivestate (e.g., sleep state), GUI objects 811 c, 812 c, 813 c, 814 c, and815 c may be displayed in an area 801 c. Also, to allow for the touchcontroller to recognize a double touch to the GUI objects 811 c to 815 cas an effective touch, for example, data for enabling the double touchmay have been written in the storage space 743-1 illustrated in FIG. 7B.

According to an embodiment, a touch controller may determine a specifiedtouch recognition area 801 c_touch based on data stored in a specifiedstorage space (e.g., the storage space 741 of FIG. 7B) of the registerof the touch controller. For example, top-left coordinate data(Xc_touch, Yc_touch) of the specific touch recognition area 801 c_touch,width Wc_touch of the specified touch recognition area 801 c_touch, andheight Hc_touch of the specified touch recognition area 801 c_touch maybe included in the specified storage space (e.g., the storage space 741of FIG. 7B) of the register. The touch recognition area 801 c_touch maybe larger than the area 801 c in which the GUI objects 811 c to 815 care displayed by distance W_(e) at the right and at the left and bydistance H_(e) at the top and at the bottom. According to an embodiment,the distances W_(e) and H_(e) may be determined, for example, dependingon the geometries of the electrode strips or electrode patches includedin a touch sensor. For example, H_(e) may represent one to five rows ofelectrode strips or electrode patches.

As described with reference to FIG. 8A, when the area 801 c includingthe GUI objects 811 c to 815 c coincides with the touch recognition area801 c_touch (i.e., 801 c=801 c_touch), touch detection errors may occur.For example, the user may perform a touch down at point 81 c on the GUIobject 815 c. Within a specific time interval (e.g., 500 ms), the usermay move his finger to point 82 c while maintaining the touch.Thereafter, the user may move his finger back to point 81 c. In thiscase, because the area 801 c overlaps with area 801 c_touch, and notouches are detected beyond the boundaries of 801 c, the electronicdevice may perceive this gesture as two distinct touch down events, andthus recognize it as a double touch. That is, due to the restrictedrange of the touch recognition area 801 c, the electronic device mayerroneously detect an invalid touch gesture as a valid effective touch.

However, as illustrated in FIG. 8C, as the touch recognition area 801c_touch is expanded, the electronic device may recognize the entirety ofthe user's finger movements. That is, since the touch recognition area801 c_touch is expanded, erroneous touch detection may be avoided.

FIG. 9A is a flowchart illustrating a touch recognition method accordingto one embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 9A, the touch recognition method according to anembodiment may include operation 901 to operation 909. Operation 901 tooperation 909 may be performed by, for example, the electronic deviceillustrated in FIGS. 1 to 6A. For example, operation 901 to operation909 may be implemented as instructions (commands) stored in acomputer-readable recording medium or a memory. Hereinafter, thereference numerals of FIG. 6A will be used to describe operation 901 tooperation 909, and a description that is the same or similar asdescribed with reference to FIG. 6A may not be repeated here.

In operation 901, the electronic device 601 may enter the inactive state(e.g., sleep state). In the inactive state (or sleep state), varioushardware and/software modules included in the electronic device 601 maybe deactivated or may perform only specified restricted functions. Forexample, the camera module in the electronic device 601 may bedeactivated in the inactive state (e.g., sleep state), and the displaydriver integrated circuit 620, the touch controller 630, and theprocessor 650 may perform only specified restricted AOD functions in theinactive state (e.g., sleep state).

For example, in the inactive state (or sleep state), the display driverintegrated circuit 620 may output a digital clock, a date, and a batterystate in the first area 611 and may output a plurality of GUI objects inthe second area 612 in the AOD mode. The display driver integratedcircuit 620 that operates in the inactive state (or sleep state) maysupply an image signal to the touchscreen display 610 at a drivingfrequency that is lower than that in the active state (or wake-upstate).

For another example, in the inactive state (or sleep state), the touchcontroller 630 may sense a touch on the touchscreen display 610 at atouch scan rate of a frequency that is lower than in the active state(or wake-up state). In the inactive state (or sleep state), the touchcontroller 630 may provide data (e.g., coordinate data of a location atwhich a touch is made) associated with a sensed touch to the processor650 at a frequency (report rate) that is lower than in the active state(or wake-up state).

In operation 903, the processor 650 of the electronic device 601 maytemporarily operate in the active state (or wake-up state) and may writedata associated with a specified area (e.g., the second area 612) forsensing an effective touch in the register 640. The data associated withthe specified area (e.g., the second area 612) may include, for example,width data “W” and height data “H” of the specified area (e.g., thesecond area 612), or coordinate data (X_(offset), Y_(offset)) associatedwith one point to define a circumference of the specified area (e.g.,the second area 612). According to another embodiment, the specifiedarea for sensing the effective touch may include a plurality of areas.The processor 650 may switch into the inactive state (or sleep state)after writing the data in the register 640.

In operation 905, while in the inactive state (e.g., sleep state), thetouch controller 630 may determine whether an effective touch is sensedin the specified area (e.g., the second area 612) of the touchscreendisplay 610. If it is determined that the effective touch is sensed inthe specified area (e.g., the second area 612), the touch controller 630may perform operation 907; otherwise, the touch controller 630 may againperform operation 905.

According to an embodiment, in operation 905, the touch controller 630may drive a touch sensor included in the touchscreen display 610 at afirst frequency. If a touch is sensed in the touch sensor, the touchcontroller 630 may drive the touch sensor at a second frequency higherthan the first frequency and may determine whether the effective touchis sensed.

According to an embodiment, in operation 905, the touch controller 630may recognize various types of effective touches depending on datastored in the register 640 (e.g., 743-1, 743-2 as shown FIG. 7B). Thetouch controller 630 may determine whether a received touch is aneffective touch based on data indicating types of effective toucheswritten into the register. For example, the type of the effective touchmay include a double touch, a long press, and the like.

Since it is determined that the effective touch is sensed in thespecified area (e.g., the second area 612), in operation 907, the touchcontroller 630 may write data associated with the effective touch in theregister 640. For example, the data associated with the effective touchmay correspond to location coordinate data (refer to FIG. 8A) of theeffective touch is made or identification information (refer to FIG. 8B)of a division area where the effective touch occurred.

In operation 909, the processor 650 may read data about the effectivetouch written in operation 907 from the register 640. Afterwards, theprocessor 650 may identify a GUI object in the specified area (e.g., thesecond area 612) based on the data associated with the effective touch.The processor 650 may apply a specified graphic effect to the identifiedGUI object and/or may execute an application program corresponding tothe identified GUI object.

FIG. 9B is a flowchart illustrating a touch recognition method accordingto another embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 9B, the touch recognition method according to anembodiment may include operation 902 to operation 906. Operation 902 tooperation 906 may be executed by, for example, the electronic devicesillustrated in FIGS. 1 to 6. For example, operation 902 to operation 906may be implemented as instructions (commands) stored in acomputer-readable recording medium or a memory. Hereinafter, thereference numerals of FIG. 6A will be used to describe operation 902 tooperation 906, and a description that is the same or similar asdescribed with reference to FIG. 6A may not be repeated here.

In operation 902, when the processor 650 of the electronic device 601may store first data (e.g., image data) in a first memory (e.g., thegraphics RAM 625) included in the display driver integrated circuit 620for later use in the inactive state or sleep state. The first data maybe associated with a graphic user interface (GUI) to be displayed in apartial area of the display 610. For example, the GUI may include GUIelements (e.g., icons or the like) of an application program. Foranother example, when the processor 650 is in the inactive state orsleep state, the remaining area of the display 610 other than the areain which the GUI is displayed may be turned off or be displayed as ablack background.

In operation 904, the processor 650 may store second data (e.g., dataassociated with an area for recognizing an effective touch) in a secondmemory (e.g., the register 640) of the touch controller 630. The seconddata may be associated with the partial area of the display 610.

In operation 906, the processor 650 may store the first data (e.g.,image data) and the second data (e.g., data associated with an area forrecognizing an effective touch) in the first memory (e.g., the graphicsRAM 625) and the second memory (e.g., the register 640), respectively.Afterwards, the processor 650 may switch into the inactive or sleepstate.

According to an embodiment, when the processor 650 is in the inactive orsleep state, the touch controller 630 may detect a touch input and maycompare the detection result of the touch input with the second data. Inthe case where the comparison result indicates that the location of thedetected touch input coincides with the partial area, for example, thetouch controller 630 may activate the processor 650 by providing aninterrupt.

According to an embodiment, in the case where a touch input forselecting the GUI (e.g., an icon or the like) of the application programis received when the processor 650 is in the inactive or sleep state,the processor 650 may be activated. The activated processor 650 maydrive (or execute) at least part of the application program.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a touch recognition method accordingto another embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 10, the touch recognition method according to anembodiment may include operation 1001 to operation 1021. Operation 1001to operation 1021 may be performed by, for example, the electronicdevice illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 6A. For example, operation 1001 tooperation 1021 may be implemented as instructions (commands) stored in acomputer-readable recording medium or a memory. Hereinafter, thereference numerals of FIG. 6A will be used to describe operation 1001 tooperation 1021, and a description that is the same or similar asdescribed with reference to FIG. 6A may not be repeated here.

In operation 1001, the electronic device 601 may enter the inactivestate (e.g., sleep state). The display driver integrated circuit 620,the touch controller 630, and the processor 650 may enter the inactivestate (or sleep state) and may perform only specified restrictedfunctions. The inactive state (e.g., sleep state) may be referred to asa “low power mode” or “standby mode.” For example, the user may push aspecified button (e.g., a power button) of the electronic device 601once so as to switch from the active state (or wake-up state) to theinactive state (or sleep state).

In operation 1003, the electronic device 601 may output one or more GUIobjects (e.g., icons) in at least a partial area of the touchscreendisplay 610. For example, in the inactive state (or sleep state), thedisplay driver integrated circuit 620 of the electronic device 601 mayoutput a digital clock, a date, and a battery state in the first area611 and may output one or more GUI objects in the second area 612. Thisis often called the AOD mode. After the processor 650 supplies imagedata indicating the digital clock, the date, and the battery state tothe display driver integrated circuit 620, the display driver integratedcircuit 620 may operate independent of the processor 650.

In operation 1005, the processor 650 may temporarily operate in theactive state (or wake-up state) and may write data associated with aspecified area (e.g., the second area 612) for sensing an effectivetouch and data indicating types of the effective touches in the register640.

For example, the data associated with the specified area (e.g., thesecond area 612) may include width data “W” and height data “H” of thespecified area (e.g., the second area 612), or coordinate data (Xoffset,Yoffset) associated with one point defining a circumference of thespecified area (e.g., the second area 612)(refer to FIGS. 8A and 8B).

For example, the types of the effective touches may include a doubletouch or a long press. According to an embodiment, the processor 650 maywrite data for enabling double touch (or long press) in storage spaces(e.g., 743-1 or 743-2 of FIG. 7B) of the register 640.

After supplying image data indicating the digital clock, the date, andthe battery state to the display driver integrated circuit 620 inoperation 1003 and writing data associated with the specified area(e.g., the second area 612) for sensing an effective touch in theregister 640 in operation 1005, in operation 1007, the processor 650 mayagain enter the inactive state (or sleep state).

In operation 1009, while in the inactive state, the touch controller 630may determine whether an effective touch is sensed based on the datawritten in the register 640 in operation 1005. For example, the touchcontroller 630 may determine whether an effective touch is sensed in thespecified area (e.g., the second area 612) based on the data associatedwith the specified area (e.g., the second area 612). Also, for example,the touch controller 630 may determine whether the type of the detectedtouch corresponds to one of the effective touch types, based on dataindicating the types of effective touches (e.g., a double touch, a longpress, or the like). If it is determined that the effective touch isdetected or sensed in the specified area (e.g., the second area 612),the touch controller 630 may perform operation 1011; otherwise, thetouch controller 630 may again perform operation 1009.

Since it is determined that the effective touch is sensed in thespecified area (e.g., the second area 612), in operation 1011, the touchcontroller 630 may write the data associated with the effective touch inthe register 640. For example, the data associated with the effectivetouch may correspond to location coordinate data of the effective touchor identification information of a division area corresponding to theeffective touch.

In operation 1012, a pressure sensor IC may activate a pressure sensorin response to the touch controller 630 writing the data associated withthe effective touch in the register 640. For example, the pressuresensor IC may receive a signal from the touch controller 630 and may beactivated by using the received signal as a trigger.

According to one embodiment, operation 1012 may be omitted in anelectronic device that is not equipped with the pressure sensor. Also,according to another embodiment, operation 1012 may be performed afteroperation 1015. For example, the processor 650 may provide the signal tothe pressure sensor IC after obtaining data (e.g., coordinate data)associated with the effective touch in operation 1015. The pressuresensor IC may activate the pressure sensor in response to the signalfrom the processor 650.

In operation 1013, the touch controller 630 may provide an interrupt tothe processor 650. The processor 650 may switch into the active orwake-up state by the interrupt.

In operation 1015, the processor 650 may read data about an effectivetouch written in operation 1011 from the register 640 in response to theinterrupt from the touch controller 630.

In operation 1017, the processor 650 may select or determine the GUIobject corresponding to data (e.g., location coordinate data of aneffective touch or identification information of the division areacorresponding to effective touch) associated with the effective touch(refer to FIGS. 8A and 8B).

In operation 1019, the processor 650 may apply a specified graphiceffect (e.g., color inversion of the identified GUI object or temporaryenlargement/reduction of the identified GUI object) to the GUI objectselected in operation 1017. According to an embodiment, the graphiceffect may be applied in response to a touch down/touch release of theeffective touch.

In operation 1021, the processor 650 may execute a function that isallocated to the selected GUI object. For example, the allocatedfunction may be to execute the application corresponding to the GUIobject.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, even thoughan electronic device operates in an inactive state where powerconsumption is low, the electronic device may display variousinformation and GUI objects in the display and may recognize a touchinput to one of the GUI objects. Accordingly, both an always-on display(AOD) and an always-on touch function (AOT) may be implemented.

As described above, an electronic device according to an embodiment mayinclude a processor, a touch sensor, and a touch controller including aregister. The processor may write, into the register, data associatedwith a partial area of the touch sensor specified to sense an effectivetouch. When the effective touch is sensed in the partial area of thetouch sensor, the touch controller may write data associated with theeffective touch into the register, and the processor may then read thedata associated with the effective touch from the register if the dataassociated with the effective touch is written in the register.

According to another embodiment, the touch controller may provide aninterrupt to the processor, and the processor may read the dataassociated with the effective touch in response to the interrupt.

According to another embodiment, the data associated with the partialarea of the touch sensor may include width data and height data of thepartial area or coordinate data associated with one point defining acircumference of the partial area.

According to another embodiment, the processor may write the dataassociated with the partial area of the touch sensor into the registerperiodically or aperiodically.

According to another embodiment, the processor may be configured toenter an inactive state (e.g., sleep state) after writing the dataassociated with the partial area of the touch sensor into the register.

According to another embodiment, the data associated with the effectivetouch may include location coordinate data of the effective touch.

According to another embodiment, the touch controller may activate thepartial area of the touch sensor and may deactivate the remaining areaof the touch sensor other than the partial area.

According to another embodiment, the touch controller may drive thetouch sensor at a first frequency, and if a touch is sensed in the touchsensor, the touch controller may drive the touch sensor at a secondfrequency higher than the first frequency and may determine whether theeffective touch is sensed.

According to another embodiment, the processor may further write dataindicating one or more types of the effective touch into the register,and the touch controller may determine whether the effective touch issensed, based on the data indicating the one or more types.

According to another embodiment, the one or more types of the effectivetouch may include a double touch including a first touch and a secondtouch or a long press.

According to another embodiment, the touch controller may drive thetouch sensor at a first frequency, and the touch controller may drivethe touch sensor at a second frequency higher than the first frequencyif a first touch is sensed in the partial area of the touch sensor, andmay determine the effective touch to be a double touch if a second touchis sensed during a specified time interval after the first touch issensed.

According to another embodiment, the touch controller may determine thedouble touch as the effective touch if a distance between a location ofthe first touch and a location of the second touch is not greater than aspecified distance.

According to another embodiment, the partial area of the touch sensormay include a plurality of division areas, and the touch controller maydetermine the double touch as the effective touch if a location of thefirst touch and a location of the second touch are within the samedivision area.

According to another embodiment, if the touch controller determines thedouble touch as the effective touch, the touch controller may writecoordinate data of a location of the first touch as the data associatedwith the effective touch.

According to another embodiment, if the touch controller determines thedouble touch as the effective touch, the touch controller may writeidentification information of the same division area where the first andsecond touches are located as the data associated with the effectivetouch.

According to another embodiment, the touch controller may drive thetouch sensor at a first frequency, and the touch controller may drivethe touch sensor at a second frequency higher than the first frequencyif the first touch is sensed in the touch sensor, and may determine thetouch as a non-effective touch if the second touch is not sensed in thespecified area during a specified time or if the second touch is notsensed in the remaining area of the touch sensor other than thespecified area.

According to another embodiment, the electronic device may furtherinclude a display coupled to the processor. The display may be overlaidwith the touch sensor or including the touch sensor. The processor mayoutput at least one graphic user interface (GUI) object in a partialarea of the display corresponding to the partial area of the touchsensor, may identify a GUI object at a location corresponding to theread data associated with the effective touch, and may execute afunction allocated to the identified GUI object.

According to another embodiment, the partial area of the display may atleast partially overlap with the partial area of the touch sensor.

According to another embodiment, the processor may apply a specifiedgraphic effect to the identified GUI object before execution of thefunction allocated to the identified GUI object.

According to another embodiment, the effective touch may include atleast one touch down and at least one touch release. The touchcontroller may provide an interrupt to the processor after writing dataindicating the at least one touch down and the at least one touchrelease in the register. The processor may apply a specified graphiceffect to the identified GUI object in response to the interrupt.

A touch recognition method according to an embodiment may includewriting, into a register included in a touch controller, data associatedwith a partial area of a touch sensor, when the effective touch issensed in the partial area of the touch sensor, writing, into theregister by the touch controller, data associated with the effectivetouch, and when the data associated with the effective touch is writteninto the register, reading the data associated with the effective touchfrom the register.

According to another embodiment, the touch recognition method mayfurther include outputting at least one graphic user interface (GUI)object in a partial area of a display, wherein the partial area of thedisplay at least partially overlaps with the partial area of the touchsensor, determining a GUI object at a location corresponding to the readdata associated with the effective touch, and executing a functionallocated to the determined GUI object.

An electronic device according to an embodiment may include a housingthat includes a first surface and a second surface opposite the firstsurface, a display that is exposed through the first surface and isinterposed between the first surface and the second surface, a touchpanel that is interposed between the display and the first surface or iscoupled to the display, a display driver integrated circuit (DDI) thatis electrically connected to the display and including a first memory, atouch controller integrated circuit (IC) that is electrically connectedto the touch panel and includes a second memory, a processor that iselectrically connected to the DDI and the touch controller IC, and anonvolatile memory that is electrically connected to the processor. Thenonvolatile memory stores instructions that, when executed, cause theprocessor to store, in the first memory, first data related to a graphicuser interface (GUI) to be displayed in a portion of the display whilethe processor is deactivated or in a sleep state, to store second dataassociated with the partial area of the display in the second memory,and to enter the sleep state after storing the first data and the seconddata in the first memory and the second memory, respectively.

According to another embodiment, when the processor is in the sleepstate, the touch controller IC may compare a location of a detectedtouch input with the second data.

According to another embodiment, the touch controller IC may beconfigured to activate the processor if the comparison result indicatesthe location of the detected touch input coincides with at least part ofthe portion of the display.

According to another embodiment, the GUI may include a GUI of anapplication program. The instructions may cause the processor to beactivated and to drive at least part of the application program if thedetected touch input selects the GUI of the application program.

According to another embodiment, the DDI may display the remaining areaof the display other than the portion of the display displaying the GUIas a black background when the processor is in the sleep state.

The term “module” used in this disclosure may represent, for example, aunit including one or more combinations of hardware, software andfirmware. The term “module” may be interchangeably used with the terms“unit,” “logic,” “logical block,” “component” and “circuit”. The“module” may be implemented mechanically or electronically. For example,the “module” may include at least one of an application-specific IC(ASIC) chip, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), and aprogrammable-logic device for performing some operations, which areknown or will be developed.

At least a part of an apparatus (e.g., modules or functions thereof) ora method (e.g., operations) according to various embodiments may be, forexample, implemented by instructions stored in computer-readable storagemedia in the form of a program module. The instruction, when executed bya processor (e.g., the processor 120), may cause the one or moreprocessors to perform a function corresponding to the instruction. Thecomputer-readable storage media, for example, may be the memory 130.

A computer-readable recording medium may include a hard disk, a floppydisk, a magnetic media (e.g., a magnetic tape), an optical media (e.g.,a compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM) and a digital versatile disc(DVD), a magneto-optical media (e.g., a floptical disk)), and hardwaredevices (e.g., a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM),or a flash memory). Also, a program instruction may include not only amechanical code such as things generated by a compiler but also ahigh-level language code executable on a computer using an interpreter.The above hardware unit may be configured to operate via one or moresoftware modules for performing an operation according to variousembodiments, and vice versa.

A module or a program module according to various embodiments mayinclude at least one of the above elements, or a part of the aboveelements may be omitted, or additional other elements may be furtherincluded. Operations performed by a module, a program module, or otherelements according to various embodiments may be executed sequentially,in parallel, repeatedly, or in a heuristic method. In addition, someoperations may be executed in different sequences or may be omitted.Alternatively, other operations may be added.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in aninactive state where power consumption is low, an electronic device maydisplay various information and GUI objects in a display and mayrecognize a touch input to one of the GUI object. Accordingly, both analways-on display (AOD) and an always-on touch functions (AOT) may beimplemented. Additionally, a variety of features directly or indirectlyunderstood through this disclosure may be provided.

The above-described embodiments of the present disclosure can beimplemented in hardware, firmware or via the execution of software orcomputer code that can be stored in a recording medium such as a CD ROM,a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), a magnetic tape, a RAM, a floppy disk, ahard disk, or a magneto-optical disk or computer code downloaded over anetwork originally stored on a remote recording medium or anon-transitory machine readable medium and to be stored on a localrecording medium, so that the methods described herein can be renderedvia such software that is stored on the recording medium using a generalpurpose computer, or a special processor or in programmable or dedicatedhardware, such as an ASIC or FPGA. As would be understood in the art,the computer, the processor, microprocessor controller or theprogrammable hardware include memory components, e.g., RAM, ROM, Flash,etc. that may store or receive software or computer code that whenaccessed and executed by the computer, processor or hardware implementthe processing methods described herein.

While the present disclosure has been shown and described with referenceto various embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilledin the art that various changes in form and details may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure asdefined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic device comprising: a processor; atouch sensor; a display overlaid with the touch sensor or including thetouch sensor; a display driver integrated circuit (DDI) including agraphics memory; and a touch controller including a register, whereinthe processor is configured to: write, into the graphics memory, imagedata to be displayed in a first partial area of the display when theprocessor is in a sleep state, write, into the register, data associatedwith a second partial area of the touch sensor specified to sense aneffective touch, wherein the second partial area at least partiallyoverlaps the first partial area, and wherein the second partial area ofthe touch sensor is activated while a remaining area of the touch sensoroutside the second partial area is deactivated, wherein, when theeffective touch is sensed in the second partial area of the touchsensor, the touch controller is configured to write, into the register,data associated with the effective touch, and wherein, when the dataassociated with the effective touch is written into the register, theprocessor is configured to read the data associated with the effectivetouch from the register.
 2. The electronic device of claim 1, whereinthe touch controller is configured to provide an interrupt to theprocessor, and wherein the processor is configured to read the dataassociated with the effective touch in response to the interrupt.
 3. Theelectronic device of claim 1, wherein the data associated with thesecond partial area of the touch sensor includes width data and heightdata of the second partial area or coordinate data associated with onepoint defining a circumference of the second partial area.
 4. Theelectronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured towrite the data associated with the second partial area of the touchsensor into the register periodically or aperiodically.
 5. Theelectronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured toenter the sleep state after writing the data associated with the secondpartial area of the touch sensor into the register.
 6. The electronicdevice of claim 1, wherein the data associated with the effective touchincludes location coordinate data of the effective touch.
 7. Theelectronic device of claim 1, wherein the touch controller is configuredto drive the touch sensor at a first frequency, and wherein when a touchis sensed in the touch sensor, the touch controller is configured todrive the touch sensor at a second frequency higher than the firstfrequency and determine whether the effective touch is sensed.
 8. Theelectronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to write data indicating one or more types of the effectivetouch into the register, and wherein the touch controller is configuredto determine whether the effective touch is sensed based on the dataindicating the one or more types.
 9. The electronic device of claim 8,wherein the one or more types of the effective touch includes a doubletouch including a first touch and a second touch and a long press. 10.The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the touch controller isconfigured to drive the touch sensor at a first frequency, and whereinthe touch controller is configured to drive the touch sensor at a secondfrequency higher than the first frequency if a first touch is sensed inthe second partial area of the touch sensor, and determine the effectivetouch to be a double touch if a second touch is sensed during aspecified time interval after the first touch is sensed.
 11. Theelectronic device of claim 10, wherein the touch controller isconfigured to determine the double touch as the effective touch when adistance between a location of the first touch and a location of thesecond touch is not greater than a specified distance.
 12. Theelectronic device of claim 10, wherein the second partial area of thetouch sensor includes a plurality of division areas, and wherein thetouch controller is configured to determine the double touch as theeffective touch when a location of the first touch and a location of thesecond touch are within one division area among the plurality ofdivision areas.
 13. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein when thetouch controller determines the double touch as the effective touch, thetouch controller is configured to write coordinate data of a location ofthe first touch as the data associated with the effective touch.
 14. Theelectronic device of claim 12, wherein when the touch controllerdetermines the double touch as the effective touch, the touch controllerwrites identification information of the one division area as the dataassociated with the effective touch.
 15. The electronic device of claim1, wherein the processor is configured to: output at least one graphicuser interface (GUI) object in the first partial area of the display,identify a GUI object at a location corresponding to the data associatedwith the effective touch, and execute a function allocated to theidentified GUI object.
 16. The electronic device of claim 15, whereinthe processor is configured to apply a specified graphic effect to theidentified GUI object before execution of the function allocated to theidentified GUI object.
 17. The electronic device of claim 15, whereinthe effective touch includes at least one touch down and at least onetouch release, wherein the touch controller is configured to provide aninterrupt to the processor after writing data indicating the at leastone touch down and the at least one touch release into the register, andwherein the processor is configured to apply a specified graphic effectto the identified GUI object in response to the interrupt.
 18. Anelectronic device comprising: a housing including a first surface and asecond surface opposite the first surface; a display exposed through thefirst surface and interposed between the first surface and the secondsurface; a touch panel interposed between the display and the firstsurface or coupled to the display; a display driver integrated circuit(DDI) electrically connected to the display and including a firstmemory; a touch controller integrated circuit (IC) electricallyconnected to the touch panel and including a second memory; a processorelectrically connected to the DDI and the touch controller IC; and anonvolatile memory electrically connected to the processor, wherein thenonvolatile memory stores instructions that, when executed, cause theprocessor to: store, in the first memory, first data related to agraphic user interface (GUI) to be displayed in a first portion of thedisplay while the processor is deactivated or in a sleep state, storesecond data associated with a second portion of the touch panel in thesecond memory, wherein the second portion of the touch panel at leastpartially overlaps the first portion of the display, and wherein thesecond portion of the touch panel is activated while a remaining area ofthe touch panel outside the second portion is deactivated, and enter thesleep state after storing the first data in the first memory and thesecond data in the second memory.